God Of War studio cancels new IP after surprise layoffs and four years of work

Sony Santa Monica are presumably developing something tasty for the PS4, but a round of staff layoffs has forced them to cancel a brand new IP that they've been working on for four years. We suspect that their collaboration with Battlestar Galactica's screenwriter may have just gone down the frakkin' tubes.

Ex-lead level designer Jonathan Hawkins took to twitter after the layoffs to reveal the axed project, which was rumoured to be helmed by Stig Asmussen, the art director of several God Of War titles. Though he wasn't sure whether the redundancies were a direct result of God Of War: Ascension's muted reception (you're only as good as your last game in this industry, I'm afraid), he confirmed that "the IP is canceled." [sic]

More details were forthcoming, including the fact that four years of development time were already invested in the project, and the studio received no warning of the layoffs. Though bound by NDAs, he also stated that it was "going to be bad ass."

So what was this doomed game, exactly? We don't have much to go on, but last year, we learned that Battlestar Galactica Screenwriter Michael Angeli had signed up to work on an enigmatic venture with Sony Santa Monica, explicitly confirming that it was not a God Of War sequel. It's possible, then, that this project will never see the light of day... unless Angeli is collaborating on something else.

A Monk tie-in, perhaps? We haven't been able to link Tony Shaloub with Sony in any way, so we should be safe.

What a damn waste, seriously are Sony and many other companies having a giraffe? FOUR YEARS OF WORK and they Cancel the entire project?! I will admit the last God of War, Ascension felt different to play compared to the the main trilogy but Sony need to make and bring in some big series exclusively to the PS4 if they want compete with Xbox. This cancelling of IPs and layoffs are really idiotic. Santa Monica Studios have made mainly the God of War series but it is Polished and Beautifully crafted series that shows what they can do. And i was looking for to seeing what else they could make for us gamers.

If companies continue like this then it will be the end of the Playstation Era before the next big console releases in about 7 - 9(at the most with delays) years time.